:00:32. > :00:35.Welcome to the First Night of the Proms 2016 ? and welcome back
:00:36. > :00:41.if you've been with us for the first half on BBC Two.
:00:42. > :00:52.Sol Gabetta has just given a wonderful performance
:00:53. > :01:06.And it well down very well indeed. She said how much she had been
:01:07. > :01:09.looking forward to playing it here at the Proms. And we certainly
:01:10. > :01:13.appreciated very much indeed. And now I think we're
:01:14. > :01:59.going to get an encore. Sol Gabetta, playing and singing,
:02:00. > :05:42.Dolcissimo from Gramata Cellam - "The Book" - by the Latvian
:05:43. > :05:54.composer Peteris Vasks. What a wonderful experience that
:05:55. > :05:59.was. Sol says that she loves the way that
:06:00. > :06:03.singing gives a new perspective She and the composer Peteris Vasks
:06:04. > :06:09.have built a successful musical partnership - four years ago,
:06:10. > :06:13.he wrote a cello concerto for her, and she has recently
:06:14. > :06:30.recorded an album of his music. What a wonderful reception she has
:06:31. > :06:34.got here, her first time at the Proms. Something tells me that she
:06:35. > :06:48.is going to be back. In a few minutes Sakari Oramo
:06:49. > :06:50.will be joined by the mezzo-soprano Olga Borodina and the giant forces
:06:51. > :06:53.of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, and the BBC
:06:54. > :06:55.National Chorus of Wales It's Prokofiev's dramatic
:06:56. > :06:58.and powerful cantata, But before that, I've got time
:06:59. > :07:07.to tell you about some of the highlights to come in this
:07:08. > :07:10.122nd season of the BBC Proms. There's a huge range of concerts
:07:11. > :07:13.to enjoy all across the summer It is the result of an enormous
:07:14. > :07:18.amount of planning ? and the excitement started
:07:19. > :07:36.for me as I prepared It is April now, so that is three
:07:37. > :07:41.months before the start of the promise. And then we will have
:07:42. > :07:49.nearly 100 concerts before the Last Night Of The Proms in September.
:07:50. > :08:02.There is no way you get quite so close to the music. It is like The
:08:03. > :08:19.Planets - you can hear the tiniest sound. I could go on about the
:08:20. > :08:26.Strictly Prom, but I want. There is even a Latin flavour to the Last
:08:27. > :08:36.Night Of The Proms. You will be able to hear Steve in a car park in come
:08:37. > :08:43.OK, could you go into your position for me? So, there is radio, TV and
:08:44. > :08:49.online. But if you can get inside, that's where you really want to be,
:08:50. > :08:58.for the atmosphere. To be here, with this Orchestra, it is a huge gift.
:08:59. > :09:03.Boris Godunov, with the Royal Opera House, at the Proms - don't miss it!
:09:04. > :09:16.The real fun takes place inside the hall.
:09:17. > :09:22.Just some of the highlights to come ? all those Proms will be broadcast
:09:23. > :09:28.live on BBC Radio 3 and many of them on TV and online, too.
:09:29. > :09:31.Here on BBC Four, we'll be with you on Fridays and Sundays ?
:09:32. > :09:34.and after the Olympics, we'll be back with a full week
:09:35. > :09:38.There will be the Requiems by Mozart, Faure and Verdi.
:09:39. > :09:42.Great orchestral classics conducted by Bernard Haitink,
:09:43. > :09:46.Daniel Barenboim, Marin Alsop and Sir Simon Rattle.
:09:47. > :09:48.Mozart played from memory, the David Bowie Prom,
:09:49. > :09:52.the Strictly Prom ? to mention just a few.
:09:53. > :09:55.Over on BBC Two, I'll be back hosting Proms Extra
:09:56. > :09:57.on Saturday evenings, starting next week, and don't forget
:09:58. > :10:01.iplayer and online, where you might like to catch the Gospel Prom,
:10:02. > :10:03.or the talented musicians of the National Youth Orchestra.
:10:04. > :10:05.Phew! I hope you're keeping up.
:10:06. > :10:11.And if you're not, you can always go to the proms website,
:10:12. > :10:13.bbc.co.uk/proms, where there is a wealth of information
:10:14. > :10:18.about the festival, and special features, too.
:10:19. > :10:20.Back now to this evening, and Prokofiev's Cantata depicting
:10:21. > :10:24.Russia's great medieval warrior Alexander Nevsky.
:10:25. > :10:31.It began life in the 1930s as a film score, which Prokofiev
:10:32. > :10:33.wrote for the famous Soviet director Sergei Eisenstein.
:10:34. > :10:36.Here's tonight's conductor Sakari Oramo.
:10:37. > :10:46.The film which Prokofiev wrote this music for, a film directed by Sergei
:10:47. > :10:52.Eisenstein, is one of the great products of the Soviet film
:10:53. > :10:57.industry. And of course, Stalin was very keen on making different kinds
:10:58. > :11:06.of art to serve the purpose of building his ideal Communist
:11:07. > :11:17.society. It is so quintessentially Russian. You hear the Orthodox
:11:18. > :11:20.Church hymns, the folk music, the dancing, the dance where you dance
:11:21. > :11:26.with your bottom almost on the floor! Prokofiev was under great
:11:27. > :11:34.pressure to compose a patriotic score. Eisenstein called it the
:11:35. > :11:38.perfect fusion of film and music. He was so impressed that he thought
:11:39. > :11:43.Prokofiev should write the music first for the film's most famous
:11:44. > :11:51.moment, the battle on the ice, and then HE would make the pictures fit.
:11:52. > :11:53.The battle on the ice Picts the two sides, the invaders and the
:11:54. > :11:59.Russians, musically, very separately. -- depicts. So you get
:12:00. > :12:08.sort of overlapping music which could be from a different piece.
:12:09. > :12:14.Towards the end of the piece, there is this great big scene which could
:12:15. > :12:19.be, and by Sergei Eisenstein seen one of his operas, with the choir
:12:20. > :12:24.and orchestra together praising Alexander Nevsky for what he has
:12:25. > :12:29.done. It is all very glorious. And I think the way he has orchestrated it
:12:30. > :12:32.is something like a textbook of Russian orchestration. If you have
:12:33. > :12:36.seen the film, all the better. You can imagine the pictures and the
:12:37. > :12:39.atmosphere. But if you haven't, it really doesn't matter. You just
:12:40. > :12:41.engulf yourself into this wonderfully rich and elaborate
:12:42. > :12:56.score. So, here comes Sakari Oramo with
:12:57. > :13:01.soloist Olga Borodina to conduct the BBC Symphony Orchestra
:13:02. > :13:04.and Chorus and the BBC in Prokofiev's cantata Alexander
:13:05. > :13:08.Nevsky. And they'll be joined later
:13:09. > :53:37.by the mezzo-soprano Olga Borodina. Sakari Oramo conducted the BBC
:53:38. > :53:46.Symphony Orchestra and Chorus and the BBC National Chorus
:53:47. > :53:51.of Wales, with mezzo soprano Olga Borodina,
:53:52. > :53:53.in the cantata Alexander Nevsky It's the first of two great Russian
:53:54. > :54:05.works in the opening If you tune to Radio 3
:54:06. > :54:09.at 7.30 tomorrow night, you'll be able to hear a concert
:54:10. > :54:34.performance of Mussorgsky's Not to be missed.
:54:35. > :54:44.As the applause continues to ring out here at the Royal Albert Hall
:54:45. > :54:51.for the BBC Symphony Orchestra, it is worth noting that this was not
:54:52. > :54:56.pock pock's first. And there is the wonderful Valery
:54:57. > :55:20.Gergiev. A marvellous performance in the movement there.
:55:21. > :55:22.Prokofiev would go on to collaborate with the director Sergey Eisenstein
:55:23. > :55:35.Another bow from Sakari Oramo there. He has had a very good year.
:55:36. > :55:49.In May winning the prestigious Conductor of the Year Award.
:55:50. > :55:55.Worth giving a nod to the wonderful Chorusmaster, Adrian Partington.
:55:56. > :56:07.And there he is. Well, that brings us
:56:08. > :56:13.to the end of the First Night of the Proms 2016 -
:56:14. > :56:16.but there's lots more to come. Here on BBC Four this coming Sunday,
:56:17. > :56:19.there will be a performance of Faure's Requiem and other choral
:56:20. > :56:21.classics with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
:56:22. > :56:24.and the Choir of King's College, And of course, you can hear
:56:25. > :56:37.all the Proms live on BBC Radio 3. But for now, from me,
:56:38. > :56:41.Katie Derham, and all of the BBC Music team here at the Royal
:56:42. > :56:52.Albert Hall, good night.